Wonderfool

The monster Fuji GW690ii (AKA the Texas Leica) is a fixed lens, rangefinder medium format camera. It’s nickname as the ‘Texas Leica’ comes from it’s rangefinder format and at how sharp the results are and it’s larger than life appearance.

I purchased this camera after succumbing to a severe case of G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome), the curiosity type, rather than just wanting new gear. I prefer using rangefinders as a tool after falling in love with the process through my M-mount Bessa R2m, and I wanted to experiment more with medium format cameras, after my experience with the RB67. The Fuji offered more portability and in the body of a rangefinder, and after reading numerous reviews around the quality of the lens/camera, as soon as one came up from a respectable seller in the UK, I had to try it out.

First impressions were that the build quality was solid, but by no means luxurious, with plastic grip where a leatherette and plastic finishing across the body. You can tell this was a designed as a simple workhorse of a camera, with maybe the more artisan materials being left off to keep the weight down and portability up.  Every button is pronounced and easy to use, with the camera taking the shape of a cartoonish toy camera silhouette and this did make me feel a bit self conscious using it. Some other issues I had with it, was I wasn’t a fan of moving the lens hood to change the aperture and because if this constant moving the lens hood is prone to becoming misshaped. Although, the viewfinder is optically beautiful, large and light, the rangefinder patch was very faint and made it difficult to focus on 1/3 shots. This may have just been this particular camera, though.

Despite those first impression issues, the plus points of this camera do override them. The first and main one is the powerhouse of the lens. It is incredibly crisp and it is clear how the camera earned it’s nickname. It’s portability and simplicity is also a massive plus. Unlike touring with the RB67 which was holstered in my rucksack, I could keep the fuji around my neck with a secondary 35mm camera round my neck too. It made medium format photography much more accessible for this reason. The simplicity of the camera meant I could spend more time thinking about photos I wanted to take, rather than preparing the camera to take the photo. Whilst using the camera I also really appreciated how it felt to use it. When you wound the film, you felt the gears turning. It felt mechanical, it felt like it was working for you and these feelings added to the photo taking process.

First time trying out a coloured lens whilst shooting in B/W. Yellow, orange and red can up the contrast of images. Trying to remember why... it’s something about the red colour in the light either being amplified or reduced, changing the contrast of the image.

This is the Kodak 35. Since seeing the military version of this camera produced for the second world war between 1942-45 (civil production of this camera was ceased during this time), I wanted to try and get my hands on the civilian version as a way to experience the same view/image creation as someone in the field during WW2. The camera was introduced in 1938 and after 1945 civil production did continue until 1949. There were a number of different shutter/lens combinations and it seems this model was produced either in 1946-47. It is fairly simple to use, but using a camera of this age does come with the lack of ergonomic design or helpful features. It is built like a tank, and is a fair weight when handling it. One major problem I found was rewinding the film shredded my hands as it was so stiff. Maybe if this camera had a CLA or service this would be smoother.

Olympus Pen FT, in my opinion one of the best looking cameras I’ve seen. It was also my first go at using a half frame camera. I bulk load most of my film to cut expense down, but do go one step further and make those rolls last twice as long was too good economically to ignore. Being a half frame camera this means it fits two images on a single slide of standard 35mm, with the viewfinder positioned in a portrait orientation. Thus, making a 36 exp roll of film last for 72 images. This is a huge bonus as it meant I could pick this camera up when leaving the house and rely on it having shots left in it and I was, of course, using less film. However, it does take so long to use up a roll of film if this camera is not your main companion. I use cameras on regular rotation, so it took nearly 8 months to shoot 4 rolls of film using this camera. As I develop film in batches of 4 it did make me lose some connection to the images I took, but also added to the anticipation of which images would come out on the roll. It was also another way of shooting. So switching between this and an RB67 then to an Xpan really fcks with how you start to think about your shot. Which is a fun way to push new ways of shooting. Also the juxtapositioning of images in this dual format is also quite pleasing. If you care enough, I’m sure you could make it so there’s a correlation between shots, but I approached it with a more happy go lucky technique, as I do with all film photography.

Along with the iconic and beautiful design of this camera, the build quality is also excellent. Despite being a very compact size and very portable nature, this camera is built like a brick. (Apart from the flimsy af self timer lever. With every other element of this camera being so sturdy and well built, I have. no idea why. this part is such an anomaly. It may just be my camera, but I have heard other users experience the self timer breaking the mechanics of the shutter altogether.

Another issue, which is more of a small gripe than a deal breaker, is I need to wind the film lever fully and then once again just a touch to reset the shutter properly. I’m also using a double stroke Leica M3 at the moment so it was a similar action, and without a shutter lock, maybe a blessing ins disguise? Either way, this issue is common with the Pen FT, but I haven’t missed a shot because of it, so almost not worth mentioning.

The images produced surprised me with their sharpness with the lens I was using with was the 1.8, 38mm, which may be the equivalent to 50mm in a full frame camera, I may also be talking b/s. The lens was wonderfully sharp and created some pleasant bokeh and seemed to handle a number of lighting situations. Although, I was using a mixture of sunny 16 and a phone metre, as initially I didn’t have the correct batteries until I found a supplier of Wein batteries. Also the metering is strange. The meter measures from numbers 1-8 and corresponds to numbers on the aperture ring of the lens, that. are actually separate to the aperture values themselves. I assume this was to make metering easier for a consumer market, but when you’re using a lens without these numbers (which I was to begin with) the meter is pretty much useless. I have since tried it with. a lens with these numbers on, but am yet to process the results.

Photo of me using the Mamiya RB67 (repaired in the nick of time) in Brussels park. Carried this monster of a camera around two cities and only took 20 photos. I deffo felt it at the end, but so good to have this camera as a companion, when walking around special or new places.

Using this camera makes every photo you take an event. The process of preparing the camera to shoot, through to composing the image ending with the satisfying flop of the mirror shutting as you take a picture.

Frantically, learning how to and carrying out light seal replacement on the Mamiya RB67 on the day we left for Belgium. I picked this camera up for an absolute steal, but it needed some heavy TLC. Every light seal had perished to the point where it was marking the mirror and affecting other parts of the camera.

I was quoted £150+ to have this repaired, but doing it myself was not only a fraction of the price but also taught me so much about the camera. All together including buying a knife set, it came to around £20 and a couple of hours work.

I did underestimate just how many light seals this cameras has. As it splits into 3-4 different parts, each one needed individual care and foam cutting to specific lengths with different thicknesses throughout.

Last weekends carboot sale hoard. Best place to buy. Decent charity shop finds at good prices are becoming harder and harder to find. Best thing to remember is you can never go wrong with a quid.

Fujifilm DL-180 Tele: £3

Fujifilm DL-270: £1

Fujifilm 210ix Zoom: £1

Halina Vision XF: £1

Olympus Trip XB3: £1.50

Panasonic C-D426AF: £1

Pentax ME Super: £7

The very crude drawing representing the sunny 16 rule on the back of my Nikon F2. If you don’t have an exposure metre to hand either internal to the camera or an external one, this is a brilliant method which has consistent results. However, not recommended if you are a perfectionist or using slide film. Most B/W films are quite forgiving which helps! To use the sunny 16 rule, set your shutter speed to the ISO number of the film you’re using. Then depending on the weather adjust the aperture. If you can’t make out my drawings they’re listed below:

F16: Bright sunshine

F11: Sun with some cloud coverage

F8: Overcast

F5.6: Dark cloud coverage

F4: Dawn or Dusk (sun low in the sky)

F2.8: Sunrise/sunset